STOLEN ELECTION IN ALASKA?

[kpete]

STOLEN ELECTION IN ALASKA?

We're supposed to believe that overall participation DECREASED by 11%. This historic election both nationally and for Alaska HAD THE LOWEST ALASKA TURNOUT FOR A PRESIDENTIAL RACE EVER!!! That makes sense. REALLY??? Something stinks.

Something stinks. Not just an ordinary low tide smell. Not like something you'd blame on the dog. It smells like an infection. For me to plug my nose, I'd have to overlook some curious facts. In Alaska, more people voted for George W. Bush in 2004 than voted for Sarah Palin on Tuesday despite an identical 61-36 margin of victory. Yes. Only four years ago 54,304 Alaskans got off their sofas and voted for Bush, but decided to sit home and not vote for Palin in 2008. In turn, I have to ignore the 30,520 Alaskans who felt progressive enough in 2004 to vote for John Kerry, but weren't inspired enough to get out and vote for Barack Obama. I would have to glance past the 1,700% increase in the Democratic caucus in February, the 20,991 newly registered voters, and the three largest political rallies in Alaska's history. I would also have to forget the people I stood in a long line with to early vote. Try not to remember 12.4% more Alaskans showed up for the August primary vote than did four years ago, before the Palin nomination. It would be helpful not to know every other presidential election since Alaska began keeping records has had a larger turn out than the one this year with our own Governor on the ticket. Don't think about the Lower 49's record voter turn out this year either. Try to delete the memory file, though difficult, that 80% of us approved of Sarah Palin just two months ago.

Something stinks. You don't care? Obama won. Yes. He. Did! Free at last! Wait. Democracy demands all of the votes be counted...if you can find them. In the balance hangs the fate of Alaska's Senate seat and House seat. We still don't know if we have elected now convicted felon Ted Stevens, or Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich. We still don't know if Don Young and his million dollar legal problems will defeat former State Representative Ethan Berkowitz and his dreams of Washington DC. Alaska hasn't had a Democrat represent us in Washington DC since Mike Gravel lost his senate seat in 1980.

Four years ago, 313,592 out of 474,740 registered voters in Alaska participated in the election-a 66% turnout. Taking into account 49,000 outstanding ballots, on Tuesday 272,633 out of 495,731 registered Alaskans showed up at the polls; a turnout of 54.9%. That's a decrease of more than 11% in voter turnout even though passions ran high for and against Obama, as well as for and against Sarah Palin! This year, early voters set a new record. As of last Thursday, with 4 days left for early voting, 15,000 Alaskans showed up-shattering the old record set in 2004 by 28%! Consider the most popular governor in history-and now the most polarizing-was on the Republican ticket. Consider the historic nature of this race; the first African American presidential candidate EVER! The second woman to ever make a presidential ticket; and she's one of our own. Despite that, we're supposed to believe that overall participation DECREASED by 11%. This historic election both nationally and for Alaska HAD THE LOWEST ALASKA TURNOUT FOR A PRESIDENTIAL RACE EVER!!! That makes sense. REALLY??? Something stinks.

But wait, there's more...

Pre election polls had both Mark Begich-D and Ethan Berkowitz-D beating incumbents Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young by at least 6-10 points. Stevens is currently ahead by 3,353 votes with 49,000 ballots left to count. Berkowitz, however, is behind by 16,887 votes; a 51-43 margin. Are we to believe Don Young came from an 8 point average polling deficit to win by 8 points-a whopping 16 point turnaround??? Remember how historic the pundits thought Hillary Clinton's come from behind New Hampshire Primary victory was? She trailed Barack Obama by 9% in the pre primary polls and ended up winning by 2 points. It was called the most stunning comeback in political history. On Election Night, Don Young topped Hillary Clinton's startling and unprecedented comeback. Furthermore, there were nearly three thousand Alaskans, (2,783) that voted yet left the hotly contested congressional race blank. In the highly publicized senate race, complete with a nationally covered trial that ended with seven felony convictions for the incumbent, 1,392 Alaskans submitted a ballot and failed to register a vote in the senate race. I'm not sure statistically what that means, but it strikes me as odd that well over a thousand Alaskans would wait in long lines and not cast a vote in either the senate race or the congressional race-especially since there was only one ballot measure. In addition, this particular election had an extra high degree of local interest with Governor Palin on the national stage.

MUCH more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/stolen-election-in-alaska_b_141704.html

[billyoc]

1. They've still got 4% unreported plus 70,000 absentee ballots to count.

Begich in a walk. Bank on it.

[MarjorieG]

15. They're on it. Just received a email for donations, but Dems will not let this disappear.

And Reid said he didn't want felons. Can we enforce something like that? All this to then have a new election?

Begich did strong absentee and early voting push.

[Blaze Diem]

20. I agree. Same with Franken in MN. absentee & provisional ballots still

to be counted.
I believe the majority of absentee ballots cast were Dem voters, fearing voting machine malfunctions.

Just basing my opinion on what I read as to early voting blocks.

--------
Senators Franken & Begich will head to DC when this is over.

[youngharry]

31. Alaska Election stinks

There is a very easy check to make sure all the ballots have been recorded and counted. Check the Precinct books, count how many people voted and then check against that precinct's reported totals. Obvious something really stinks in Alaska other than Stevens and Palin.

[wolfgangmo]

50. Unless there are 2 sets of books.

I don't see much difference between corporate sponsored politicians of any party and the mafia, except that the mafia bookies will actually pay off the bet if they lose.

[Blue_In_AK]

70. Our nightly news tonight is reporting

that there are now 80,000 uncounted votes. This is a huge number in this state of less than 475,000 registered voters -- 16% of the registered voters according to my calculations.

I'm not sure where they keep picking up these extra votes, but hopefully they'll shake out for Mark Begich.

[catgirl]

2. My thoughts exactly

And it was stolen in 2004 too.

[tomp]

3. that cannot be.

the constant competition in america for the most corrupt state.

[SunsetDreams]

4. K&R, something does stink!

[d_b]

5. please keep K&R

thanks. No way we voted to send that pos back to the senate; No way we had a lower turnout than '04.

[northofdenali]

35. Agreed, d_b, all the Fairbanks precincts were jammed on Tuesday.

I voted Tuesday morning during an "off" time and still waited in line. Very unusual turnout in the Interior, LOTS of military voting, and we showed a DROP in the polls? Wrong. This goes back to '04. Begich was solidly ahead as was Berkowitz going into Tuesday.

Welcome to Alaska, fully owned subsidiary of Big Oil and Veco.

:kick:

[d_b]

45. Fuckin A

That's what I say: Our state is OWNED by the oil industry. Corrupt Corrupt Corrupt. This cannot be allowed to stand. Pure farce.

National dems better fucking help us!

[d_b]

46. meh

I'm just pissed off. I hate knowing my vote literally doesn't count.

[northofdenali]

48. Once we get the feds up here to check it out -

and I think we WILL........

There'll be heads rolling all the way down the Rich, up the Haul Road and probably to Kotz and Wainwright.

This has finally FINALLY gotten to where it cannot be ignored and WILL NOT be hidden or brushed aside by us.

[Blue_In_AK]

71. d_b, KTUU now says there are 80,000

uncounted votes as of tonight. That's a huge number, so hopefully Mark will pull it out.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Well, Stevens IS a convicted felon and Palin is an "authority abuser"

so I wouldn't put a stolen election past either of them.

[Ken Burch]

68. I think Sarah, Ted and Sean Parnell(the Lt. Governor)could be in it together

Here's what's in it for each of them.

1)If Ted's reelected, he gets to make a "statesman-like" exit(resigning before facing expulsion), saying he stayed in "for the good of Alaska and the party", and then let's there be a new special election on Republican terms. Ted get's praise for being "Sherman-like", then scores big-bucks on the RW lecture circuit before he does time(or Dubbikins pardons him on the way out the door).

2)Sarah then stands and, presumably, gets elected in the special election, moving back to D.C. and avoiding the "no-fun" second part of her term(state revenues are again declining and the legislature is MORE Democratic, with the state Senate in another predominately Dem coalition). It also means she doesn't have to stay in Juneau and deal with a vengeful Don Young(who she campaigned against in the primary)who presumably won't return her calls.

3)Sean(the "Lite Gov" as we Alaskans call holders of that office)who is in charge of overseeing the vote counting(a la` Ohio Blackwell)
gets to become governor, just months after failing to beat the discredited Don in the GOP primary.

[Blue_In_AK]

72. That's the scenario I see, as well,

although with 80,000 votes still to be counted, according to the latest tally, Mark could yet win this. I've got my fingers crossed.

[Frosty1]

7. K&R

:kick:

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. "Popular" governor on the big ticket, popular Senator in battle, & turnout goes down 11%? Stinks!

[d_b]

47. Total bs

believe it.

[defendandprotect]

9. Worth thinking about -- very odd --!!

In TV discussions -- even on C-span -- so ridiculous/canned ...

real questions like this NEVER get asked ...!!!

[defendandprotect]

10. Alaska may be light blue ...???

[FogerRox]

11. Makes no sense.

[FREEWILL56]

12. Alaskan election results page in pdf.

http://www.elections.alaska.gov/08general/data/results.pdf

[MarjorieG]

13. Wish I could find my 2004 info, but Alaska had way more votes than people. History of tampering.

Up or down, not honest.

[FREEWILL56]

29. Try this link for the info you seek.

http://www.elections.alaska.gov/returns.php

[helderheid]

14. K&R

[Overseas]

16. K&R for the voter suppression file. Hope it will be examined.

The GOP called off most of their electronic tricks when they learned GOP guru Mike Connell had been called in to testify about election manipulation, but I can see them leaving in a few key races.

The GOP aka Republicans probably have definite plans for what they want to happen in Alaska, for the future of the fundie star they are now trashing as a Wasilla Hillbilly.

[bagrman]

17. They didn't even bother to change the flip percentage on the machines, gettin sloppy.

[Overseas]

19. I hope our Democrats will continue to push for minimum standards to protect our votes.

Paper trails and random audits and open source code software open to inspection.

[bagrman]

33. Chuck the machines in the river. Vote by Mail. Don't care if it takes 2 days to count.

[Richard Steele]

18. Clearly, something is rotten in those numbers. K&R

[Blackhatjack]

21. Sounds like a story for KO, Maddow and Tweety to investigate....

... the 11% drop in voter participation should be the hook.

[Zynx]

22. That is such a crooked state this wouldn't surprise me.

I know I am normally a huge skeptic of election fraud, but this set off my bullshit meter.

[Perky]

23. They apparently had very bad weather and Icy roads

but people up there are use to it.


There were 90,000 votes less than in 2004

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/compare.php?year=2004&fips=2&f=0&off=0&elect=0&type=state
Map Year Total Vote D R I Margin %Margin Dem Rep Ind Oth. Democrat Republican Independ. Other
2008 222,841 2 1 - 56,008 25.13% 36.05% 61.19% 0.00% 2.76% 80,340 136,348 0 6,153
2004 312,598 2 1 - 79,864 25.55% 35.52% 61.07% 0.00% 3.42% 111,025 190,889 0 10,684
2000 285,560 2 1 3 88,394 30.95% 27.67% 58.62% 10.07% 3.65% 79,004 167,398 28,747 10,411
1996 241,620 2 1 3 42,366 17.53% 33.27% 50.80% 10.90% 5.03% 80,380 122,746 26,333 12,161
1992 258,506 2 1 3 23,706 9.17% 30.29% 39.46% 28.43% 1.83% 78,294 102,000 73,481 4,731
1988 200,116 2 1 - 46,667 23.32% 36.27% 59.59% 0.00% 4.14% 72,584 119,251 0 8,281
1984 207,605 2 1 - 76,370 36.79% 29.87% 66.65% 0.00% 3.48% 62,007 138,377 0 7,221
1980 158,445 2 1 4 44,270 27.94% 26.41% 54.35% 7.04% 12.20% 41,842 86,112 11,155 19,336
1976 123,574 2 1 - 27,497 22.25% 35.65% 57.90% 0.00% 6.44% 44,058 71,555 0 7,961
1972 95,219 2 1 - 22,382 23.51% 34.62% 58.13% 0.00% 7.25% 32,967 55,349 0 6,903
1968 83,035 2 1 3 2,189 2.64% 42.65% 45.28% 12.07% 0.00% 35,411 37,600 10,024 0
1964 67,259 1 2 0 21,399 31.82% 65.91% 34.09% 0.00% 0.00% 44,329 22,930 0 0
1960 60,762 2 1 0 1,144 1.88% 49.06% 50.94% 0.00% 0.00% 29,809 30,953 0 0

[d_b]

30. shiit.

icy roads and bad weather lulz. Alaskans can drive roller blades on and ice rink.

[Blue_In_AK]

73. Besides which, I think the weather was pretty good

on Tuesday -- at least here it was.

[earth mom]

44. Those numbers look like a stolen election in BOTH 2000 & 2004. And...

the numbers are back to "normal" this year. :grr:

[Kalifornia.Kid]

24. Damn - Alaska is more embarassing than an Abbot & Costello movie.

Oh, they were "Lost in Alaska".

[sybylla]

25. In my repub-leaning county, turnout was down about 20%

Barack Obama won with only about 500 more votes than Kerry got in 2004, but McCain lost with 2000+ votes fewer than the chimp.

Considering how republican Alaska tends to be, I wouldn't be surprised if turnout was down statewide.

The results are another thing. I have to say I was stunned that the Stevens race was even close after seeing the same polls you're citing. Definitely questionable.

[Blue_In_AK]

74. There are more nonaffiliated and undeclared voters

in Alaskan than registered Republicans and Democrats combined.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

26. Excellent Washington Post article (link). They are digging.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/11/alaska_turnout_results_raise_q.html?hpid=news-col-blogs

Turnout was "down", running counter to a 12.4 increased turnout for the primaries, before Palin was announced.

This stinks like an Alaskan salmon rotting on a beach coated with Exxon Valdez oil.

[d_b]

32. w00t WAPO

people are paying attention.

[merh]

27. I believe they stole several of the senate elections

they couldn't take the presidency but they could make sure their red state senators kept or won their seats.

[defendandprotect]

77. Agree .. esp re Stevens & Coleman who have investigations going --

[Jersey Devil]

28. According to Anchorage Daily News there are still at least 70,000 votes uncounted

I don't know what the likelihood of closing the gap (about 3,200 votes) is among those 70,000 votes or if there are more votes floating around up there uncounted, but here is the story:

But Shelly Growden, Alaska Division of Elections spokeswoman, tells ABC News that the current vote totals don't tell the full story.

At least 70,000 absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be counted, she said. ... She said she expects final 2008 turnout to have exceeded the 60.1 percent recorded in the 2000 election, though it still probably won't approach the numbers reached in 2004.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/newsreader/story/580724.html

[Blue_In_AK]

75. According to our nightly news

they've dredged up another 10,000 ballots from somewhere. The total uncounted votes now is approximately 80,000.

[BrklynLiberal]

34. I do not understand why anyone would vote for Stevens...

[DutchPirate]

84. Well...

Two that I can think of offhand. First, because they dont feel that the charges against Stevens offsets all the things he's done for the state. They may agree he is dirty, but they believe that they are all dirty, and Stevens is the devil they know. Second, because they dont like Begich.

I asked my friend yesterday why he voted Stevens, and he said something to the effect of "everybody deserves a second chance". Ridiculous, but there you have it! Like GW, he cant remember the second part to "Fool me once..."

[Life Long Dem]

36. Ohio had a low turnout as well

http://www.newsnet5.com/politics/17915589/detail.html?rss=nn5&psp=news

[snappyturtle]

61. Flimsy excuses to me. Ohio knew it was important, very important,

in this race. I suppose since it went blue no one will investigate.

[bertman]

37. This is shitty. What can we do, kpete?

[kpete]

55. keep

shining the light
this is an opportunity
peace, kp

[ProgressiveEconomist]

38. Does anyone have hour-by-hour state running vote totals to disprove the 'don't need to vote'

theory?

By how many hours does Alaska's poll closing time lag the 7pm ET closing time of the first polls on the East Coast?

Several MSM stories in Roll Call and New Republic have suggested that Alaskans may have seen on TV long lines of young people and minorities waiting to vote for Obama and concluded that Obama was a shoo-in. Thus they may have been reluctant to spend their own time and energy going out to cast ballots that Obama did not really need to win. Remember, 23,000 Alaskans already had voted early, leaving a higher proportion of procrastinators on Election Day.

This hypothesis could be tested if someone had retained hour-by-hour snapshots of county vote totals from at least 3pm on through the night, both for 2008 and for prior election years (2004 at a minimum but 2000 and 1996 if possible).

Compared to 2004 and earlier years, did a smaller proportion of Alaskans who voted on Election Day 2008 vote after 7pm, when the networks started screen crawls of Lower 48 election results? Are more and more of the "missing" 2008 votes missing from totals later in the day than are missing earlier in the day? If no, the "don't need to vote hypothesis" is DISPROVED.

Also, the same comparision of late Election Day to earlier Election Day voting should be applied to West Coast states in the Lower 48. If "don't need to vote" is disproved using data from California, Washington, and Nevada as well as from Alaska, then the "stolen Alaska election" theory deserves careful investigation.

[Blue_In_AK]

76. We voted around 10:00 a.m.

and business was brisk, moving quickly. My daughter voted early on Friday -- she had to wait in line and there was a long line after her. I think people here were very anxious to vote, and with such important congressional elections going on, I doubt that the Obama win had much effect.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

39. Official "reason" for the delay in counting? 26 likely Alzheimers cases who forgot they

voted absentee in 2004 but nonetheless also voted in person on Election Day 2004.

Seems to me it would make more sense to release preliminary absentee and early voter counts on Election Night and make any necessary minor adjustments later for the certified count, don't you agree?

That seems to be how it was handled before this year, even though absentee ballots could and can be valid even if they don't arrive until 15 days after Election Day. But his year, the Alaska election authority decided to withhold counts of 40,000 absentee votes, 9,000 of 23,000 early votes, and even enumerations of uncounted provisional ballots for 10 days.

From http://www.alaskadispatch.com/tundra-talk/1-talk-of-the-tundra/282-winners-in-some-alaska-races-may-take-days-to-determine.html?tmpl=component&print=1&page= :

"Winners in some Alaska races may take days to determine

By Tony Hopfinger November 04, 2008

Alaskans may not know the outcome for some races today, including Stevens-Begich and Young-Berkowitz, because the Alaska Division of Elections will not count any of the more than 40,000 absentee ballots tonight. In past elections, the division counted some absentee ballots on Election Day and the rest afterward. But during the August primary this year, the division found that 26 Alaskans voted twice: once on their absentee ballot and again at their polling station, said Shelly Growden, the division's election systems manager. ...

"The Director of the Division of Elections, Gail Fenumiai, announced today that the division of Elections is strengthening its absentee ballot review procedures. Specifically, the division will not deem its review of absentee ballots complete until absentee voters' names can be checked against the registry of those voting at the polls on Election Day.

This cross-check cannot be done until the division receives the precinct registers used on Election Day and matches names of those who voted absentee against the precinct registers. Accordingly, the division will not be counting absentee-in-person or absentee-by-mail ballots on election night. The division anticipates completing the ballot review in time to count absentee ballots on or before the 10th day following the election.

"During the Primary election, the division determined 26 ballots were counted from voters who cast both an absentee/early ballot and voted at the polls on Election Day. Although these duplicate voters did not have an affect on the outcome of any ballot contest, the division is proactively guarding against this occurring in the future. ... Intentionally casting two ballots is against Alaska law and can be charged as a Class C felony."

[HughMoran]

40. My election fraud threshold is quite high - I am almost certain something untoward happened here

As my ex just said "Corruption in Alaska - that never happens"

Something's rotten in Denmark - Stevens was down 8 - 25% in polls - this stinks to high heaven. I still expect us to be ahead after all known ballots are counted however.

[beac]

41. K&R b/c something smells like rotten moose. n/t

[zoff]

42. Let them secede ...

... I'm sure that they can survive without earmarks. (cough) Give all the democrats in Alaska ( and all those pissed with their politics) a free ticket to their new state, Iceland! Yup, lets help bailout Iceland and they can be star number 50!

[sce56]

43. Error: You've already recommended that thread!!!

[WillyT]

49. Big K & R !!!

:kick:

[rosesaylavee]

51. Alaska. The New Florida. n/t

[orleans]

52. 100th recommendation. n/t

[Stevepol]

53. The exit polls must be wrong!! Look how wrong they were in GA in 02.

Ever since the electronic voting machines, which always count the votes EXACTLY as cast, it has become more and more clear that exit polls are almost never right. They weren't right in GA in 02 or in OH in 04 or in almost every other important race since 02. Even where the end result was the same, the amount of the differential is nowadays almost always beyond the margin of error. For God sakes when will we wake up??

Either the exit polls get on the stick and get their act together or just do away with them. Let's have more electronic voting machines!

[redqueen]

56. Uh

what?

[orbitalman]

59. I Can See You're As SICK as I AM...

We definately need MORE ******* electronic voting machines.

[tclambert]

65. I'm not that thrilled with electronic vote-counting machines.

Now you want the machines to cast the votes, too? I know it's convenient. We can all stay home and let the Daaleks vote.

[defendandprotect]

64. I think you need a "Sarcasm" sign on that --

[Pooka Fey]

54. K&R

[JMDEM]

57. Thanks Kpete -- I posted this myself in "Editorials" but it was ignored

Your name has better "brand recognition" I'm glad people are paying attention to your post.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

58. "Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours"

:kick:

[snappyturtle]

60. Thanks for posting this. I thought it more than fishy to put it mildly.

:kick:

[Grinchie]

62. Does this mean that Alaska Holds the Key to a 60 seat majority for the Democrats?

Is this the reason they are attempting to steal the election? One last attempt to somehow retain control?

Is the FEC or the Attorney General working on this?

If the numbers are correct on the decrease of voters this year, then this is very serious, and most likely the proof needed to convene a Grand Jury to examine the facts.

[defendandprotect]

63. Though I doubt totally clear yet ...I'm getting the impression they

worked to steal a landslide - and especially to hold onto Senators where they

could ...

Alaska looks well beaten up in that regard --

[Supersedeas]

66. Who is the Gubnear in charge of election laws in Alaska??

[Ken Burch]

85. It's the Lt. Governor. the Gov and the "Lite Gov" run as a ticket after winning separate noms.

Sean Parnell is the Lt. Gov, and he just barely lost to Don Young in this year's Congressional primary.

[whatdoyouthink]

67. Arizona Voting

Was down – with Mclame On the ticket –(and they still Won) but I would count every one of those “uncounted” ones, And Dbl, check the count vs voters who showed up!, and then check the counters....etc

[AlbertCat]

69. too embarrassed to vote, perhaps?

[Lerrad]

78. Something more to add....

Every single county in Alaska went red. Every single one!

If you look at all the other states in the US, all of them had at least a few counties that went blue. Alaska is the only state where every single county was red.

Yes, something stinks!

[ShadowLiberal]

79. 538 says there's still hope for us unseating Stevens, early voting heavily favors our guy

[Liberty Belle]

80. it makes sense to me; Alaska is conservative but many don't like Palin.

There was simply no candidate who appealed to the majority of voters there.

[whistle]

81. It's a story about republican corruption and criminal conduct, the press

...must not ignore this story nor should it be allowed to die until all the facts are known

[SweetieD]

86. I agree. The facts are too shady!

[DutchPirate]

82. The military is fighting overseas

Military voting makes up alot of the alaska popular vote. I'm not saying this is the end-all explanation, but it is certainly something to consider.

[AuntPatsy]

83. K & R

:kick: